Top iOS Games & Apps in May: Social Casino Cashes in Stateside, Ketchapp’s Fidget Spinners Soar

The top story in May’s Top iOS Games and Apps by Revenues and Downloads was the rise of social casino in the United States. Four of the top 10 games in the U.S. revenue charts were in this category, as consumers spent more money on virtual betting.

The Chinese app and game charts were dominated by Tencent’s properties, with the company locking out a significant number of the top slots in the app revenue, game revenue, and app download top 20 rankings.

In Europe, the fidget spinner craze spread to the app store as Ketchapp’s imaginatively titled Fidget Spinner flew to the top of the game download rankings.

United States: Social casino cashes in

The top grossing games in the U.S. were again dominated by Clash Royale and Candy Crush Saga, but the big winners in May were in the social casino category. Big Fish Casino, Slotomania, Heart of Vegas, DoubleDown Casino and Slots, and Slot Machines all climbed the charts, with all but Slotomania entering the top 10, suggesting that social casino titles could soon be challenging established mobile gaming rivals.

In the game download ranking, a popular toy has been turned into a wildly popular mobile game. Ketchapp’s Fidget Spinner went straight to the top, knocking another game from Ketchapp’s portfolio, Ballz, from the top spot. There were several other new entries in the download charts from high-profile studios, with Rovio’s Battle Bay, The Pokémon Company’s Magikarp Jump, and Zynga’s Crosswords with Friends all entering the ranking.

The same familiar titles again dominated the U.S. app revenue charts, with the top eight remaining exactly as they were in April. But May proved to be a good month for dating and music apps, with the likes of Bumble and Spotify climbing upward.

In the app download charts, YouTube was on top but Facebook was again the winner. Facebook, Instagram, and Messenger all climbed the download rankings, leaving the rest of Google’s portfolio behind.

China: Tencent dominates app and game revenues

Tencent’s King of Glory continued its reign as the #1 grossing game in China in May. However, there were two interesting new entries in the top five, with Tencent’s MMO Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils Mobile and CMGE’s Eternal Myth both muscling their way in at #3 and #5, respectively.

Tencent’s performance in the game revenue ranking was supplemented by a strong showing in the download charts. Four of the top five most downloaded games in China in May were from Tencent, consolidating the company’s hold on the market. This was more pronounced because of the relatively poor performance of international publishers, with only Zeptolab and FlareGames successfully challenging domestic rivals.

As for apps, iQIYI kept the top spot in terms of revenues. Tencent continued to perform well in May, with five of the top 10 revenue-generating apps belonging to the company. The biggest climber, however, was Luo Zhenyu’s iGet, which jumped 11 places and demonstrated an appetite among Chinese consumers for monetizing content.

WeChat was again the #1 downloaded app, but the biggest mover was Snapchat-style photo app B612. Interestingly, both of China’s cycle-hire apps slipped out of the top five, suggesting that the hype around the idea might be momentarily dissipating.

Europe: Stagnation in the revenue charts

The top four grossing apps and the top seven grossing games in Europe were unchanged in May, helping the likes of Supercell, King, MZ, Netflix, and Tinder to cement their dominant position in the market. Nevertheless, there was some interesting movement in the rankings. Workout app Kayla’s Sweat, which came to prominence in January, climbed back up the revenue charts with a new angle on offering a “bikini body”, resonating with consumers ahead of summer.

It’s also worth noting that Snapchat and BitMoji had a poor month in the app download charts. Both apps dropped, with the social messaging duo increasingly shut out by the Facebook and Google duopoly.

In the game rankings, Pokémon GO notably lost out. It fell out of the top 10 to #15 in the grossing ranking, suggesting that consumers might finally be falling out of love with the geo location giant. Unlike the U.S., there was also little love for social casino games in the European market.

However, there were some similarities between the European and American download charts. Facebook’s portfolio of apps and fidget spinners performed well in May’s rankings, mirroring their strong performance in the United States.

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